Théâtre de la foire
Encyclopedia
Théâtre de la foire is the collective name given to the theatre put on at the annual fair
s at Saint-Germain
and Saint-Laurent
(and for a time, at Saint-Ovide) in Paris.
and was located near the Abbey on the Left Bank southwest of the city center just outside one of the gates of the city wall built by Philip II
at the beginning of the 13th century. The covered Saint-Germain market today occupies part of the former fairground site with access from the Boulevard Saint-Germain
via the Rue de Montfaucon
(satellite view).
The fair generally lasted three to five weeks around Easter
. During the 18th century it consistently opened on 3 February and lasted until Palm Sunday
.
The fair's first actors whose names are recorded were Jehan Courtin and Nicolas Poteau, who so entertained the Parisian public in 1595 that the actors of the Hôtel de Bourgogne
filed a suit against them; they probably lost because the two fairground actors returned several years later. In 1618, André Soleil and Isabel Le Gendre met with similar success. Later, marionette
manipulators, tightrope walkers and animal trainers so delighted the fair-going public that in 1643, Paul Scarron
dedicated a poem on the subject to the Duke of Orléans
.
Among the most famous artists of the Saint-Germain fair were: marionnette manipulators Pierre and François Datelin (better known by the name Brioché), Jean-Baptiste Archambault, Jérôme, Arthur and Nicolas Féron; dancers Charles and Pierre Alard, Moritz von der Beek (aka Maurice), Alexandre Bertrand and Louis Nivelon; actors Louis Gauthier de Saint-Edme, Jean-Baptiste Constantini, Catherine von der Beek, Étienne Baron, Charles Dolet, Antoine Francassani, Jean-Baptiste Hamoche, Dominique Biancolelli, Francisque, and many others for whom Alain-René Lesage
, Louis Fuzelier
and Jacques-Philippe d'Orneval wrote numerous plays.
Early operatic works by Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny
were performed at the fair: the intermède
Les aveux indiscrets (7 February 1759), and the opéras bouffons
Le maître en droit (13 February 1760), and Le cadi dupé (4 February 1761). François-André Danican Philidor
's opéra comique
Blaise le savetier
was produced there on 9 March 1759, followed by Le jardinier et son seigneur on 18 February 1761.
Among depictions of this fair is the famous miniature dated 1763 by Louis-Nicolas van Blarenberghe
(1716–1794) at the Wallace Collection
in London.
). After a century and a half, it moved north of Paris to a site near the fair's new sponsor, the leper colony of Saint-Lazare. In 1661 it moved to a nearby enclosure on the north side of the Rue de Saint Laurent, across from and a bit west of the Church of Saint-Laurent. The new location was just east of the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, across from the Abbaye des frères de Saint-Lazare (as the leper colony was now known). The Abbaye was later to become the Prison Saint-Lazare
, and finally the Hôpital Saint-Lazare. Although the fairground was demolished in the early 19th century, its former site is located directly southwest of the entrance to today's Gare de l'Est
.
The Saint-Laurent fair was a meeting place for artisans, merchants, and the middle class, and was held outdoors, while the Saint-Germain fair, sheltered from the weather, served as more of a showcase for luxury commodities (jewelry, china, musical instruments, prints). Many artists and performance troupes from the Saint-Germain fair also appeared at Saint-Laurent, as one fair happenened in the spring and the other took place in the summer. Beginning in the eighteenth century, the Saint-Laurent Fair was scheduled to last from 9 August to 29 September. The alternation in the timing of the fairs allowed the public to follow their favorite shows and permitted the evolution of a kind of theatrical "soap opera
", where a play which began at Saint-Germain was continued at Saint-Laurent.
A number of celebrated opéras comiques by François-André Danican Philidor
were first performed at the fair: Le diable à quatre, ou La double métamorphose (19 August 1756), L'huître et les plaideurs, ou Le tribunal de la chicane (17 September 1759), Le soldat magicien (14 August 1760), and Le maréchal ferrant
(22 August 1761). Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny
's On ne s'avise jamais de tout was premiered there on 14 September 1761.
), the Saint-Ovide fair moved to the Place Louis XV (now called the Place de la Concorde
) in 1772. A small fair, it nonetheless competed with the Saint-Laurent fair, taking place at roughly the same time of year (approximately August 15 to September 15). It disappeared in 1777, destroyed by a fire.
, which saw in it a dangerous competition. The Comédie-Française tried every means to preserve its privileges and, after many trials conducted before the Châtelet
and the Parliament of Paris, it achieved the outright prohibition of performances with dialogue.
But it had not counted on the tricks that fairground actors were able to deploy to subvert these prohibitions. Seeing themselves prohibited from using any dialogue onstage, the actors began in 1707 to only play their parts in the form of monologues, or to talk to a mute, to an interlocutor placed in the wings, or even to an animal. Later they invented a form of jargon
evoking a sort of low Latin, but which did not compete with the French language of which the Comédie-Française claimed exclusive use. Later, performers would write all the dialogue on "écriteaux" (signs), a sort of paper roll on which they displayed the words of the play. Here is how Ménier, the Commissioner of Police in Paris, described the scene in 1718:
The Comédie-Française no longer had any objective reasons for working against the fair performers; their claims had been met. It was now the turn of the Académie Royale de Musique
to tell the competition that it was the unique holder of the right to sing, dance and accompany plays with music in France. The balance of power played out differently here and soon, the directors of the opera, plagued by increasing financial crises, tried to save the day by selling two fair directors the right to produce sung performances. Thus the Opéra-Comique
was born in 1714.
Given the growing success of the fair performances, the opera demanded increasingly exorbitant royalties, which put a strain on fair directors. The strategic ally of the Opera, the Comédie-Française took the opportunity to deal a fatal blow in 1719: it obtained the removal of all fair shows, with the exception of marionnettes and tightrope walking.
Meanwhile, the regent had restored the Comédie-Italienne
: it took the opportunity to occupy the St. Laurent fair for three years, from 1721 to 1723, but it did not meet with the expected success.
In 1724, a candle merchant named Maurice Honoré obtained permission to restore the Opéra-Comique
and managed the company for three years. He was replaced by Pontau, Devienne, Jean Monnet
and Charles Simon Favart
, who directed the company successively until 1762, when it was reunited with the Comédie-Italienne.
A variety of fairground attractions appeared alongside performances by the Opéra-Comique: dancers, puppeteers and tightrope artists performed next to giants, dwarfs, monsters, talking heads, performing animals, etc. Gradually, the shows were moved to the boulevards, mostly to the Boulevard du Temple
which in the 19th century was nicknamed the Boulevard du Crime
. It was also at the fairs and on the boulevards that Jean-Baptiste Nicolet
's troupe, the Grands-Danseurs du Roi, was born.
Fair
A fair or fayre is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. It is normally of the essence of a fair that it is temporary; some last only an afternoon while others may ten weeks. ...
s at Saint-Germain
Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés
The Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, just beyond the outskirts of early medieval Paris, was the burial place of Merovingian kings of Neustria...
and Saint-Laurent
Saint-Laurent church, Paris
The Church of Saint-Laurent is a church in the 10th arrondissement of Paris...
(and for a time, at Saint-Ovide) in Paris.
Foire Saint-Germain
The earliest references to the annual fair date to 1176. The fairground itself was established in 1482 by Louis XI for the benefit of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-PrésAbbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés
The Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, just beyond the outskirts of early medieval Paris, was the burial place of Merovingian kings of Neustria...
and was located near the Abbey on the Left Bank southwest of the city center just outside one of the gates of the city wall built by Philip II
Wall of Philip II Augustus, Paris
The Wall of Philip Augustus is the oldest city wall of Paris whose plan is accurately known. Partially integrated into buildings, more traces of it remain than of the later fortifications which were destroyed and replaced by the Grands Boulevards....
at the beginning of the 13th century. The covered Saint-Germain market today occupies part of the former fairground site with access from the Boulevard Saint-Germain
Boulevard Saint-Germain
The Boulevard Saint-Germain is a major street in Paris on the Left Bank of the Seine river. It curves in a 3.5 kilometer arc from the Pont de Sully in the east to the Pont de la Concorde in the west and traverses the 5th, 6th and 7th arrondissements...
via the Rue de Montfaucon
(satellite view).
The fair generally lasted three to five weeks around Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
. During the 18th century it consistently opened on 3 February and lasted until Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four Canonical Gospels. ....
.
The fair's first actors whose names are recorded were Jehan Courtin and Nicolas Poteau, who so entertained the Parisian public in 1595 that the actors of the Hôtel de Bourgogne
Hôtel de Bourgogne
Until the 16th century, the Hôtel de Bourgogne was the name of the Paris residence of the Dukes of Burgundy. Today, the last vestige is the Tour Jean sans Peur, 20 rue Étienne Marcel, in the 2nd arrondissement.-Theatre:...
filed a suit against them; they probably lost because the two fairground actors returned several years later. In 1618, André Soleil and Isabel Le Gendre met with similar success. Later, marionette
Marionette
A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a manipulator. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms...
manipulators, tightrope walkers and animal trainers so delighted the fair-going public that in 1643, Paul Scarron
Paul Scarron
Paul Scarron was a French poet, dramatist, and novelist. His precise birthdate is unknown, but he was baptized on July 4, 1610...
dedicated a poem on the subject to the Duke of Orléans
Gaston, Duke of Orléans
Gaston of France, , also known as Gaston d'Orléans, was the third son of King Henry IV of France and his wife Marie de Medici. As a son of the king, he was born a Fils de France. He later acquired the title Duke of Orléans, by which he was generally known during his adulthood...
.
Among the most famous artists of the Saint-Germain fair were: marionnette manipulators Pierre and François Datelin (better known by the name Brioché), Jean-Baptiste Archambault, Jérôme, Arthur and Nicolas Féron; dancers Charles and Pierre Alard, Moritz von der Beek (aka Maurice), Alexandre Bertrand and Louis Nivelon; actors Louis Gauthier de Saint-Edme, Jean-Baptiste Constantini, Catherine von der Beek, Étienne Baron, Charles Dolet, Antoine Francassani, Jean-Baptiste Hamoche, Dominique Biancolelli, Francisque, and many others for whom Alain-René Lesage
Alain-René Lesage
Alain-René Lesage was a French novelist and playwright. Lesage is best known for his comic novel The Devil upon Two Sticks , his comedy Turcaret , and his picaresque novel Gil Blas .-Youth and education:Claude Lesage, the father of the novelist, held the united...
, Louis Fuzelier
Louis Fuzelier
Louis Fuzelier was a French dramatic author who was born in Paris in 1672 and died in the same city on September 19, 1752. He wrote more than 200 plays for the théâtres de la foire , alone or in collaboration with Alain-Rene Lesage, Alexis Piron or d'Orneval.Fuzelier wrote the libretto les Indes...
and Jacques-Philippe d'Orneval wrote numerous plays.
Early operatic works by Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny
Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny
Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny was a French composer and a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts .He is considered alongside André Grétry and François-André Danican Philidor to have been the founder of a new musical genre, the opéra comique, laying a path for other French composers such as...
were performed at the fair: the intermède
Intermède
Intermède is a French term for a musical or theatrical performance involving song and dance, also an 18th-century opera genre.The context in which the 'intermède' was performed has changed over time. During the 16th century they were court entertainments in which ballet was an important element...
Les aveux indiscrets (7 February 1759), and the opéras bouffons
Opéra bouffon
Opéra bouffon is the French term for the Italian genre of opera called opera buffa performed in 18th-century France, either in the original language or in French translation...
Le maître en droit (13 February 1760), and Le cadi dupé (4 February 1761). François-André Danican Philidor
François-André Danican Philidor
François-André Danican Philidor , often referred to as André Danican Philidor during his lifetime, was a French composer and chess player. He contributed to the early development of the opéra comique...
's opéra comique
Opéra comique
Opéra comique is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged out of the popular opéra comiques en vaudevilles of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent , which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections...
Blaise le savetier
Blaise le savetier
Blaise le savetier is a 1759 one-act opéra comique, by the French composer François-André Danican Philidor. The libretto was by Michel-Jean Sedaine, after a story by Jean de La Fontaine entitled Conte d'une chose arrivée à Château-Thierry.-Performance history:The first complete opéra comique by...
was produced there on 9 March 1759, followed by Le jardinier et son seigneur on 18 February 1761.
Among depictions of this fair is the famous miniature dated 1763 by Louis-Nicolas van Blarenberghe
Blarenberghe
van Blarenberghe was the name of a dynasty of painters, originally from French Flanders but some of the most famous descendants also lived in Paris, France. They were all descendants from Joris van Blarenberghe ....
(1716–1794) at the Wallace Collection
Wallace Collection
The Wallace Collection is a museum in London, with a world-famous range of fine and decorative arts from the 15th to the 19th centuries with large holdings of French 18th-century paintings, furniture, arms & armour, porcelain and Old Master paintings arranged into 25 galleries.It was established in...
in London.
Foire Saint-Laurent
The Saint Laurent fair was first established in 1183 in central Paris at Les Champeaux (later better known as Les HallesLes Halles
Les Halles is an area of Paris, France, located in the 1er arrondissement, just south of the fashionable rue Montorgueil. It is named for the large central wholesale marketplace, which was demolished in 1971, to be replaced with an underground modern shopping precinct, the Forum des Halles...
). After a century and a half, it moved north of Paris to a site near the fair's new sponsor, the leper colony of Saint-Lazare. In 1661 it moved to a nearby enclosure on the north side of the Rue de Saint Laurent, across from and a bit west of the Church of Saint-Laurent. The new location was just east of the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, across from the Abbaye des frères de Saint-Lazare (as the leper colony was now known). The Abbaye was later to become the Prison Saint-Lazare
Prison Saint-Lazare
The Prison Saint-Lazare was a prison in the Xe arrondissement of Paris, France.-History:Originally a leper hospital founded on the road from Paris to Saint-Denis at the boundary of the marshy area of former Seine river bank in the 12th century, it was ceded on 7 January 1632 to Vincent de Paul and...
, and finally the Hôpital Saint-Lazare. Although the fairground was demolished in the early 19th century, its former site is located directly southwest of the entrance to today's Gare de l'Est
Gare de l'Est
is one of the six large SNCF termini in Paris. It is in the 10th arrondissement, not far from the Gare du Nord, facing the Boulevard de Strasbourg, part of the north-south axis of Paris created by Baron Haussmann...
.
The Saint-Laurent fair was a meeting place for artisans, merchants, and the middle class, and was held outdoors, while the Saint-Germain fair, sheltered from the weather, served as more of a showcase for luxury commodities (jewelry, china, musical instruments, prints). Many artists and performance troupes from the Saint-Germain fair also appeared at Saint-Laurent, as one fair happenened in the spring and the other took place in the summer. Beginning in the eighteenth century, the Saint-Laurent Fair was scheduled to last from 9 August to 29 September. The alternation in the timing of the fairs allowed the public to follow their favorite shows and permitted the evolution of a kind of theatrical "soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
", where a play which began at Saint-Germain was continued at Saint-Laurent.
A number of celebrated opéras comiques by François-André Danican Philidor
François-André Danican Philidor
François-André Danican Philidor , often referred to as André Danican Philidor during his lifetime, was a French composer and chess player. He contributed to the early development of the opéra comique...
were first performed at the fair: Le diable à quatre, ou La double métamorphose (19 August 1756), L'huître et les plaideurs, ou Le tribunal de la chicane (17 September 1759), Le soldat magicien (14 August 1760), and Le maréchal ferrant
Le maréchal ferrant
Le maréchal ferrant is a 1761 French two-act opéra comique with spoken dialogue and music composed by François-André Danican Philidor as well as several vaudevilles , which were typically included in opéras comiques of the time...
(22 August 1761). Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny
Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny
Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny was a French composer and a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts .He is considered alongside André Grétry and François-André Danican Philidor to have been the founder of a new musical genre, the opéra comique, laying a path for other French composers such as...
's On ne s'avise jamais de tout was premiered there on 14 September 1761.
Foire Saint-Ovide
Founded in 1764 at the Place Louis XIV (now known as Place VendômePlace Vendôme
Place Vendôme is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madeleine. It is the starting point of the Rue de la Paix. Its regular architecture by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and pedimented screens canted across the...
), the Saint-Ovide fair moved to the Place Louis XV (now called the Place de la Concorde
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.- History :...
) in 1772. A small fair, it nonetheless competed with the Saint-Laurent fair, taking place at roughly the same time of year (approximately August 15 to September 15). It disappeared in 1777, destroyed by a fire.
Co-existence with the "grands théâtres"
From marionettes and tightrope walkers, fairground performers gradually came to perform extremely small plays, often written by renowned and talented authors. After the expulsion of Italian actors in 1697, actors and showmen were emboldened and they appropriated the Italians' repertoire. The professionalization of entertainment at the fair began to worry the Comédie-FrançaiseComédie-Française
The Comédie-Française or Théâtre-Français is one of the few state theaters in France. It is the only state theater to have its own troupe of actors. It is located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris....
, which saw in it a dangerous competition. The Comédie-Française tried every means to preserve its privileges and, after many trials conducted before the Châtelet
Grand Châtelet
The Grand Châtelet was a stronghold in Ancien Régime Paris, on the right bank of the Seine, on the site of what is now the Place du Châtelet; it contained a court and police headquarters and a number of prisons....
and the Parliament of Paris, it achieved the outright prohibition of performances with dialogue.
But it had not counted on the tricks that fairground actors were able to deploy to subvert these prohibitions. Seeing themselves prohibited from using any dialogue onstage, the actors began in 1707 to only play their parts in the form of monologues, or to talk to a mute, to an interlocutor placed in the wings, or even to an animal. Later they invented a form of jargon
Jargon
Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, group, or event. The philosophe Condillac observed in 1782 that "Every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas." As a rationalist member of the Enlightenment he...
evoking a sort of low Latin, but which did not compete with the French language of which the Comédie-Française claimed exclusive use. Later, performers would write all the dialogue on "écriteaux" (signs), a sort of paper roll on which they displayed the words of the play. Here is how Ménier, the Commissioner of Police in Paris, described the scene in 1718:
"Next appear three archers who want to stop Harlequin, who, playing his lyre, charms them and manages to escape, all of which comprises the first act, which is performed by the actors as well as by the audience with the help of signs descending from above, on which are written the stories that make up the play: the actors gesture and express through various pantomime motions what is written on the signs, and the spectators sing and in some places the actors, to link the verses, say a few words, and when the signs come down, four violins, a bass, and an oboe sound the theme of the story written on the signs which the public sings."
The Comédie-Française no longer had any objective reasons for working against the fair performers; their claims had been met. It was now the turn of the Académie Royale de Musique
Académie Royale de Musique
The Salle Le Peletier was the home of the Paris Opera from 1821 until the building was destroyed by fire in 1873. The theatre was designed and constructed by the architect François Debret on the site of the former Hôtel de Choiseul...
to tell the competition that it was the unique holder of the right to sing, dance and accompany plays with music in France. The balance of power played out differently here and soon, the directors of the opera, plagued by increasing financial crises, tried to save the day by selling two fair directors the right to produce sung performances. Thus the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
was born in 1714.
Given the growing success of the fair performances, the opera demanded increasingly exorbitant royalties, which put a strain on fair directors. The strategic ally of the Opera, the Comédie-Française took the opportunity to deal a fatal blow in 1719: it obtained the removal of all fair shows, with the exception of marionnettes and tightrope walking.
Meanwhile, the regent had restored the Comédie-Italienne
Comédie-Italienne
Over time, there have been several buildings and several theatrical companies named the "Théâtre-Italien" or the "Comédie-Italienne" in Paris. Following the times, the theatre has shown both plays and operas...
: it took the opportunity to occupy the St. Laurent fair for three years, from 1721 to 1723, but it did not meet with the expected success.
In 1724, a candle merchant named Maurice Honoré obtained permission to restore the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
and managed the company for three years. He was replaced by Pontau, Devienne, Jean Monnet
Jean Monnet (director)
Jean Monnet was a French theatre impresario and writer.-Life:A baker's son, he was orphaned at age 8 and taken in by his uncle before moving into the service of the duchesse de Berry at age 15...
and Charles Simon Favart
Charles Simon Favart
Charles Simon Favart was a French dramatist.Born in Paris, the son of a pastry-cook, he was educated at the college of Louis-le-Grand, and after his father's death he carried on the business for a time...
, who directed the company successively until 1762, when it was reunited with the Comédie-Italienne.
A variety of fairground attractions appeared alongside performances by the Opéra-Comique: dancers, puppeteers and tightrope artists performed next to giants, dwarfs, monsters, talking heads, performing animals, etc. Gradually, the shows were moved to the boulevards, mostly to the Boulevard du Temple
Boulevard du Temple
The Boulevard du Temple is a thoroughfare in Paris that separates the 3rd arrondissement from the 11th. It runs from the Place de la République to the Place Pasdeloup, and its name refers to the nearby Knights Templars' Temple where they established their Paris priory.-History:The Boulevard du...
which in the 19th century was nicknamed the Boulevard du Crime
Boulevard du Crime
The Boulevard du Crime was the nickname given in the 19th century to the Boulevard du Temple in Paris because of the many crime melodramas that were shown every night in its many theaters. It is notorious in French history for having lost so many theatres during the rebuilding of Paris by Baron...
. It was also at the fairs and on the boulevards that Jean-Baptiste Nicolet
Jean-Baptiste Nicolet
Jean-Baptiste Nicolet was a French actor and manager. He was the eldest son of puppeteer, dance master and violinist Guillaume Nicolet. He set up the Grands-Danseurs du Roi, the predecessor of the Théâtre de la Gaîté....
's troupe, the Grands-Danseurs du Roi, was born.